Repair/Service: Diagnose dead battery on new car

Hourly Rate: $300

Total Cost: $300

We live only a few blocks away from this dealership. Their service department is SO bad that we bought our Honda Pilot and get it serviced 45 minutes away!

For example, our 2009 Pilot, still under warranty, suddenly had a dead battery on 12/30/11. We charged it, it was fine, it was dead again. This happened three times in two days. We took it to Napleton on 12/31/11. We explained that the battery was dead and that it seemed something was draining it even while it was turned off. We explained it was relatively new and that we had re-charged it three times. Their "technician" did nothing to diagnose the problem. He said the battery is dead, so you need a new one. We paid for a new one.

The NEXT DAY, the new battery was again dead. We brought it back to Napleton on 1/2/12, where they again correctly diagnosed that the battery was dead. No kidding, we know it is dead. But why is it dead? They had the nerve to say the NEW battery was probably a lemon. My husband insisted that an actual technician check to see if amperage was being drawn on the car while it was off. They didn't have a technician there, so it stayed overnight. The next day, a technician found that the air compressor relay was bad, staying on and draining the battery.

They refused to refund the cost of the new battery, which we did not need to begin with. To add insult to injury, they had recharged the freon in our AC (which was also an incorrect diagnosis) on our first visit. Because the compressor stayed on, it drained out the new freon, so they charged us to re-fill that as well.

This dealership has a terrible service department. We thought their new building would mean an improvement. It didn't. Not only will we boycott their dealership, it's likely we'll go with a Toyota for our next car.

by Larney on January 4, 2012